Four
by Kirstyae
Summary: Four new buildings, four new businesses. This is the story of their owners. (Yogscast Tekkit/FTB AU fic, Eventually Zoelna, Zoethian, Sjips)
1. Chapter 1

The row of new buildings went up over spring, and by early summer they were ready for occupying. Young and old entrepreneurs alike found common ground in their interest in the bright, airy buildings, and the blank canvases they offered. The buildings were not large, and so they filled up very quickly. As the days lengthened and the temperature rose, the new tenants began to settle in. The first building was bought by a businessman with a very different outlook on the world. He had a lot to offer, but he kept to himself, and so what exactly he did was unknown. The lights in his building could still be seen well into most evenings. The second building became the head office for a small company that dealt mostly with construction. The owner was a cheerful young man with a very grand mustache. The third building became a health food store, owned by a young woman with long red hair and a fondness for animals. She was very kind, and usually incredibly shy. The final building was turned into a very nicely decorated workshop for a man who loved nothing more than to tinker. He had some crazy ideas sometimes, but many people were quite fond of him. The four buildings were along a road that was equally quiet and busy, and opposite a large and beautiful park.

For a time, the new owners coexisted without much acknowledgement between them. They would arrive for work at their separate times and leave again in the evenings once they had closed up. One day however, after a long morning working on a new machine part, the tinkerer decided that he should eat his lunch in the park where he could enjoy the sunshine. He finished his work, washed up and headed over to the grassy area opposite his workshop.

He hadn't been over here at all since starting up, but he had seen plenty of it through his windows, and he couldn't deny that it really was a lovely place. The smell of cut grass and the sound of birds singing and children playing was thick in the air. He settled on a bench opposite the small lake in the centre of the park and smiled to himself at the children playing by the waters edge. The sun was warm on his back, and a warm breeze carrying the scent of summer drifted lazily about. It was really quite peaceful, and lunch forgotten, he soon drifted off to sleep.

"Hi there neighbour."

"Wha... wh?" The tinkerer jolted upright and looked about in panic. A quiet, honest laugh came from behind him, but before he could turn around, the owner of the laugh came around and sat herself down on the bench too.

"It's such a nice day, I couldn't waste it inside alone!" She smiled and held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Zoeya by the way, but you can call me Zoey."

"Zoey...?" He gaped, not quite recovered from the surprise of her introduction.

"You're Lalna, right? It says so on the sign outside your building." She flexed her fingers a little then dropped her hand when he didn't shake it, but didn't appear phased by his apparent rejection. He coughed, thumped his chest, and adjusted his position slightly on the bench.

"Yeah, Lalna." He paused. "You run the food shop next door?"

"Yep! It's pretty cool huh? Anyway I was on my way to feed the ducks and I saw you sitting here and wondered what you could possibly be doing when I saw that you were sleeping in the park. Why are you sleeping in the park?" She tilted her head to the side, and the late afternoon sun shone prettily through her red hair. Lalna noticed that she was carrying a small bag of broken up bread crusts.

"Uh, I didn't mean to." Lalna frowned. "I came out here for lunch- Hey! My lunch!" He looked around wildly again, only to spot the remains of his lunch being consumed by several hungry looking pigeons.

"Well, since it looks like you already fed the ducks, I can make you lunch." Zoey offered. "If you want, I mean." Her cheeks warmed a little and she lifted her hands to cover them.

"I um. Okay then." He had to admit he was a little bewildered, but he just wasn't the type to say no to lunch with a pretty girl. Lalna stood up and offered Zoey his hand to help her up. She smirked and stood up by herself, then turned and began to run back to her shop.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Lalna laughed and ran after her. This could definitely be interesting.

On the top floor of the first building, Rythian Enderborn watched the happenings in the park with a sad expression on what remained of his face. Pulling his scarf over his face, he turned away from the window and pulled the blinds closed.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! ^^ I'm not gonna lie, It's been a long time since I've written anything, so this is me trying to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for reading! ^^

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Lunch in the park with Zoey became a daily occurrence. One week after the first encounter, Lalna found himself watching the clock eagerly in anticipation of closing up shop for his midday break. He was working on fixing a watch, which was quite boring really and could not hold his attention. Each minute dragged on and on, and before long Lalna lost his patience and quite suddenly packed up the watch. He placed it back into a small lockable box on his desk, brushed his hands off on his thighs and headed into his office to grab his small lunch. He only had a hastily made sandwich and a small bottle of water, but it seemed like it could be the most delicious lunch in all of the world from the way he was looking forward to it. Smiling to himself, he made his way to the front door, turned the 'open' sign to 'closed', and after locking up, made his way over to the bench that had been claimed as his and Zoey's.

When he got there, he was surprised to see Zoey already there, as she usually showed up a few minutes later than him, and he was earlier than usual himself.

"Hey Zoey," he touched her shoulder briefly and she turned to face him with a big grin.

"Morning, hey, I made you something!" She scrambled to her knees on the bench with her hands behind her back.

"Oh really?" Lalna raised an eyebrow, but could not stop the pleased smile spreading across his face. She'd taken the time to make something for him, and that made him feel a sort of elation he was not sure he'd experienced before.

"Yeah, yeah, close your eyes though okay? Okay." Her excitement seemed to bubble over and Lalna couldn't help laughing as he complied.

"Okay, let me have it."

"Yeah, yeah, here!"

A small weight dropped into Lalna's rough hands. He opened his eyes to see that it was a woven bag tied with hemp rope.

"Oh?" He cocked his head curiously, and looked up to meet Zoey's eyes. She avoided his gaze and bit her lip, her cheeks flushing red.

"You don't have to, um. I mean, it's okay if you don't want it!" She looked up for a split second, then turned away again when she noticed he was staring.

Wondering what it could possibly be, Lalna pulled at the strings on the bag and was surprised to see that it contained food. He should have guessed really, considering the business Zoey was in, but either way it was a pleasant discovery. He chortled and removed the contents of the bag.

"It looks good!" He said, nudging the girl beside him. She looked up, eyes wide.

"You think so? Only, you know, I didn't know what you like, but I saw you eating the same thing every day you know and I just couldn't help it because feeding people is what I do you know and-"  
"Zoey," Lalna interrupted her, smiling fondly. "Thank you very much."

She smiled and blushed, then shifted so she was sitting properly again and pulled out her own lunch.

During the lunch breaks they shared, Zoey and Lalna became quite oblivious to most things around them, and so they never noticed they were being watched. The top floor of Rythian's building was a sort of studio where he could sit and think in relative peace when he was not working on something in his office downstairs. Recently, however, it had turned into a brooding nest. He spent his midday breaks staring down into the park with anger curling in his chest, clawing and scraping and scratching at his insides until he had to turn away or risk actually _doing_ something. Not that he was opposed to... removing the young tinkerer, but he knew that now, it was too late. It would affect her, and he just did not want that for her. The whole reason he was here in the first place was her, and removing her new friend would just prove problematic for her well being. He thought often of going down to meet them, and practiced long conversations in his mirror, but they never went the way they should, even when he was supplying both sides. He pushed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets in frustration and turned away from the window. They were feeding ducks, and laughing so freely and openly that he just could not bear it. Sweeping his lunch into the bin under the windowsill, he stalked off downstairs to continue working, if only to distract him from what was going on outside.

Lalna watched as Zoey tossed torn up chunks of bread crust at the ducks waddling about the water's edge. She watched eagerly as the ducks came forward to accept her bread, and giggled happily when the small birds quacked at her.

"Lalna look!" She turned to him grinning, and he could not help but grin back.

"C'mere," he patted the bench beside him. "I wanna ask you something."

"Yeah? What's up?" She about bounded over to him and settled next to him, brim full of life with a light in her eyes that Lalna had never seen on any other girl. Something twisted in Lalna's chest, and he bit his lip.

"Well, we've been spending a lot of time together here." He paused uncertainly.

"Mmhm, yeah," Zoey nodded her head and reached up to twirl a lock of her hair around her fingers.

"I uh," He paused and scratched his short blond beard. "Well, I wondered if maybe you wanted to, you know, spend more time together. Like, after work." His cheeks coloured and he laughed nervously. Zoey's eyes sparkled and her face split into a wide grin.

"Yeah! Yeah of course!" She jumped up again and offered her hand to the tinkerer. "I'll close up now, it's getting late anyway, then you can show me what you're working on! Yeah!" Lalna smiled and took her hand, and laughed when she started to run off in the direction of her shop.

"Woah, slow down!" He chortled happily. Things were working out just fine.


End file.
